The Napoleonic Era

Interactive History School Visits, Workshops and Learning Activities

Let us bring the WOW factor into your classrooms with our fun and informative Napoleonic learning days. Find out about how the French Revolution in 1789 led to 26 years of conflict throughout Europe.

We love working with primary and secondary schools across Sussex, Surrey and Kent on their Ks1, Ks2 and Ks3 history curriculum topics.

The Napoleonic Era

When the French people rose in rebellion in 1789 and executed their King, Louis XVI, in 1793 conflicts broke out throughout Europe as French Revolutionary armies fought and conquered across the continent. From this period of great political confusion arose an able Corsican officer called Napoleon Bonaparte who took control of France and with his military genius, began to defeat all the countries of mainland Europe. This left Great Britain with her navy and army to carry on the fight against his tyrannical regime. Victories at Trafalgar in 1805 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 brought down the French Empire with Napoleon being sent in to exile.

"The children absolutely loved it....possibly not as much as i did though."

- Teacher, Hull

Original artefacts and quality replicas created in our workshops or sourced from the best suppliers:

For our Napoleon school visits we have researched and recreated and obtained the following artefacts for use during your day:

Uniforms and equipment for both British and French combatants.

The pistols, muskets and swords used by both sides.

Safe, blank-firing only, versions of the muskets and pistols.

Smaller versions of the uniform jackets and hats for the children to wear.

The clothing of both rich and poor civilians of all ages and both sexes.

Signalling equipment as would have been used on campaign.

Signalling activities for students to try their hand at.

The everyday items that would have been used to live on campaign, with corn querns, fire steels, pots and pans, cups and spoons.

Examples of the food that the soldiers and sailors would have eaten.

Activities Agenda

During our Napoleonic history workshop your class will:

See their teachers dressed as a British Officer, ordinary ‘Redcoat’ soldier and as a ‘Green Jacket’ rifleman.

Watch other teachers being dressed as a French soldier and as Napoleon Bonaparte!

Get the chance to try on smaller jackets and hats for a good photo opportunity for the school.

Handle all the inert muskets, pistols and blunted swords in a safe and controlled fashion.

Visit a sailor in the British Navy and see your teacher dressed in his everyday working clothing and armed with his cutlass, pike, boarding axe and flintlock blunderbuss.

Learn about life aboard ship and learn how tough it was, but with the benefit of ‘three square meals’ a day (sailor’s had square wooden plates for their food!)

Learn how admirals and generals sent out their orders by signalling with flags. Then everyone gets a go at trying to send their own short message using signal flags. Harder than today’s texting!

Try their hand at milling corn into flour with our portable corn quern and then try to make ships’ biscuits the ‘navy’ way.

Watch how soldiers on campaign could light a fire using a flint and steel.

See and hear the safe, blank-firing only, muskets and pistols in action.

See their teachers dressed as rich aristocrats, both husband and wife and their poor farm workers.

Learn about medicine of the time and visit one of the military surgeons as he operates on your wounded teacher, amputating the lower, left badly injured leg. Gory but always popular with all students!

"Excellent day, it was well presented and pitched at just the right level. Other members of staff commented on your vast knowledge!!"

- Teacher, Battle Abbey Prep

History Resources Box

To enable you to make the most of our visit we provide a History Resources Box* filled with interesting items from your chosen time period absolutely free. This complimentary box will arrive one month prior to your booking and we will collect it at the end of our visit. (Or you can choose to have it for one month after our workshop.) Boxes might include various items from arrow heads and clothing to fire lighting flint and steel, plus all those little items they needed for every day living. Teachers have found these resource boxes brilliant for helping with their programmes of work and lesson plans.

*We regret we can only provide History Resources Boxes to schools within a 10 mile radius of our location at this time (Horam, East Sussex).